Court Orders US to Release Memos on Drone Strikes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A federal appeals court ordered the US Department of Justice to turn over key portions of a memorandum justifying the government’s targeted use of drones to kill terror suspects, including Americans.
The case was brought before the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and two journalists from the New York Times, Charlie Savage and Scott Shane, under the Freedom of Information Act.
Savage and Shane sought the memorandum saying it authorised the targeting killing of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric who joined al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, in a 2011 drone attack, France24 reported.
The three-judge court ruled unanimously that the United States government had waived its right to secrecy by making repeated public statements justifying targeted killings.
These included a Justice Department “white paper,” as well as speeches or statements by officials like Attorney General Eric Holder and former Obama administration counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, endorsing the practice.
The decision overturns a previous ruling by a lower court guarding the documents’ secrecy.
“Whatever protection the legal analysis might once have had has been lost by virtue of public statements of public officials at the highest levels and official disclosure of the DOJ White Paper,” Circuit Judge Jon Newman wrote for the appeals court panel in New York.
He said it was no longer logical or plausible to argue that disclosing the legal analysis could jeopardise military plans, intelligence activities or foreign relations.
The court redacted a portion of the memorandum on intelligence gathering, as well as part of its own decision. It is unclear when the memorandum or the full 2nd Circuit decision might be made public, or whether the government will appeal.
Allison Price, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the department had no comment on the decision.
David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said the newspaper is delighted with the decision, stating that it encourages public debate on an important foreign policy and national security issue.
“The court reaffirmed a bedrock principle of democracy: The people do not have to accept blindly the government’s assurances that it is operating within the bounds of the law; they get to see for themselves the legal justification that the government is working from,” McCraw said in a statement.
Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley, the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have also been seeking the legal rationale, and Grassley on Monday urged the Justice Department to start preparing to turn it over.
